


Steve Comes Back

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman (Comics)
Genre: Amazons - Freeform, Bruce is a good friend, F/M, Fix It Fic, Love over Evil, Love trumps all, Steve and Diana forever, Wonder Woman is awesome, You can do nothing or do something, museum, photograph, wondertrev
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 08:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11287776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: What if Ares decided to use Steve as his ultimate weapon against Diana? And what if Steve just showed up at a museum in 2017 the day Diana was there? How would the League react? How would Steve and Diana handle this? This is my take on how you could bring back Steve, without ruining what he did in 1918 or his character in general. WonderTrev fix it fic.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to stick as close to the movie as possible, and things that weren't expressly shown I attempted to stick with what I believe happened based on what we know about the characters. I used the movie's mythology for Ares and the Amazons, and I made a guess about the exact year Steve died. I also guessed about events post war/pre-Bat.vs.Supes., such as if Charlie got married and how old Etta lived to be.  
> No swearing, sex, or graphic description of wounds.

Ares stared at the small vial floating just above his hand. He studied his old acquisition. It would be quite useful to him in the days to come. The fight with Diana had weakened him. Not as badly as the final battle with his father, no. Yet it would be decades before he could withstand another bout with his little sister. He smiled at the vial like a nasty child with a stolen toy.

When the time was right, he would release the mere mortal upon Diana. Although he would nolonger be a mere mortal, nor would be he loyal to Diana. Ares smiled. To see Diana brought down by her own true love would be the sweetest of victories. Perhaps then she would finally see how weak and corruptible these pathetic, weak mortals truly were. 

But for now, this vial would contain the body, mind, and essence of the mortal, while corrupting, bending, twisting, and molding him to Ares’s purpose. Ares was pleased. When he was strong enough, he would pull the mortal from this vial and return him to a physical form. A corrupted, physical form, and he would lay his trap for Diana.


	2. The Return of Captain Trevor

Diana woke just ahead of her alarm, as per the usual, and switched off the electronic clock. Without thought, she stood, stretched, and moved to her closet to decide on her attire for the day. She went about getting ready, going through the motions without much conscious thought. Her mind was busy thinking about the photo Bruce had sent her. She needed to figure out how she would care for it. It was so fragile.

  
Diana took a slow breath. As much as it comforted her to have the photo, for it to nolonger be in the hands of Lex Luthor, of all people. She felt a constriction of her heart thinking of that fragile print. Just like the men pictured on it. Lost to her for so long, then only a portion of them ever returned to her through memories, tokens, and that one rare photo.

Once she was ready, she made her way to the museum she was having discussions with about care-taking for the photo. They had a good number of World War One artifacts from uniforms and guns to posters and old war bonds. If anyone would know how to care for a print such as hers, it would be them.

The wide Neo-Gothic archway greeted her as she walked up the front steps. Inside, she stepped up to the front desk. A young woman with sparkling blonde hair welcomed Diana warmly.

  
“Hello, Dr.Prince. Here to see Dr.Del Moro today?”

Diana nodded, reaching out for the sign-in sheet. Everyone who signed in about appointments or checking the documents at the museum, helped them get funding. Diana was more than willing to give them a signature every time she visited. Even when she just came to look at the WWI plane replicas.

“He is up in his office. It’ll be good for him to see you. He’s been in a rough mood all morning and you always put him in a better mood.”

Diana handed the clipboard back to the young woman.

“Thank you, Olivia. How is your nephew doing, by the way?”

She remembered how Olivia had adopted her young nephew, and was now excited he was joining his deaf school’s drama program as one of their principle actors. The woman beamed at the question.

  
“Oh he’s wonderful, Dr.Prince. Although right now he’s a bit obsessed with these super-heroes. He keeps hoping to meet Batman or the Aquaman. I just want him to eat his veggies.”

  
Diana smiled. Arthur would love that a little boy idolized him. Bruce would growl about how the kid really ought to be learning history and not reading about the Justice League. Diana was glad children looked up to the Justice League members. Children needed idols to aspire to. Someone to make them not fear the dark or the monsters that lurked within it.

  
“Tell him that Aquaman and Batman must eat their veggies too, or else they wouldn’t be able to save all those people.”

  
Olivia smiled widely.

  
“I’ll do that. Thanks!”

  
Diana nodded, then headed up to her meeting. Dr.Del Moro was in his office when she arrived. He stood 5’1 at best with wild, white hair floating about his skull, with keen brown eyes that did not miss a thing. Diana suspected he might have some idea there was something about her that she was holding back, but he was polite enough not to mention it.

He stood and greeted her with a smile and his extended hand. Unlike most she met in America, he did not shake her hand, rather brushing a light kiss across the back of her knuckles. A gesture of another age. The man was meant to be in a museum.

“I have found a perfect place for your print, Dr.Prince. We received a large donation recently and we are expanding our Hall of Heroes to showcase all the different kinds of photos and images we have. There will be recruiting posters, old black and white photographs, paintings, and other assorted images. I assure you, we’ll have plenty of room for your image.”

She nodded.

“I was actually hoping it would not be on display just yet.”

He nodded.

“Well, this won’t be up and ready for over a year. Until then, we have a vault where we store similar items in protected conditions. I would happy to add your print to the vault until such time as a great position can be made or found within the museum floors.”

Diana considered this. Once it was on display, people would see the picture and she would need to stand next to it at the opening event or even later when she came to visit it. There would be questions. Not everyone would be like Bruce and leap to the conclusion she was the same woman in the photo, though many would want to know if that was her great-grandmother and a few might figure out that was the same Wonder Woman from the Justice League they all knew.

“May I take the day to think it over?”

Dr.Del Moro nodded with a fond smile.

“Dr.Prince, I can tell the print holds a special meaning to you. I’m guessing a relative is pictured within it. Take the weekend to think about it.”

She smiled. He was a very accommodating man. Kind even.

“Thank you.”

Standing, she wasn’t surprised he stood up along with her or that he thanked her for coming to see him before she could turn to leave. She agreed to come back Monday to discuss what her decision would be and then she headed back down the stairs. Normally, she would just leave. Today she felt more…nostalgic.

Heading down towards the WWI wing, Diana’s feet walked the marble floors of the old building, below antique banners hanging from the rafters and eaves. Without allowing herself to think about the reasoning, she wandered into the aerial section. There they had replicas of the planes the pilots flew all through the war, ground-to-air weapons under large glass boxes, uniforms of the pilots and mechanics, tools, posters, and most importantly to Diana, photos of the pilots.

The photos always drew her into the one hallway, at the back of the WWI room with the planes. She knew exactly where to look in order to see a faded black and white photo of a man beside his plane with a youthful, hopeful smirk and an ill-fitting uniform. A photo she could remember far more clearly than the faded picture could render.

Today, when she walked into the aerial room, she cast a glance about the room. She preferred to have the room to herself or at least to be nearly alone. Today there was only one other person in the room, a man a brown canvas jacket, grey pants, and beat up boots. That was not what got Diana’s attention.

His posture. His silhouette. The slightly untamed look of his hair, in a cut that had not been in style for over eight decades. Stepping closer, Diana’s eyes never left the man who stood stationary, staring aloft at the replica WWI plane. Diana was transfixed.

Diana could not believe her eyes. Yes, over the past century she had seen many faces that reminded her of him. A similar slope of the nose, eyebrows bearing the same shape over the eyes, a smirk to match his, and once, a woman with bright blue eyes almost as deep as his had been. Each time brought a new sorrow. This was different. As Diana moved off to the side a bit, still looking at this man, she was not breathing, afraid of breaking this odd dream.

The man standing in the aerial museum, eyes glued to a replica of a WWI plane, looked exactly like Steve. Her Steve. Steve Trevor, the man who saved the day and broke her heart in one action. Moving closer, she swore he smelled of planes, fresh air, gun powder, and soap. Her Steve.

The same height, the same shoulders, the same slightly wild hair, and that same way of planting his feet. Despite how it could not possibly be him, Diana knew. It was. Her Steve. The man standing there not 20 feet from her was Steve. Captain Steven Trevor.

“Hello?”, she said, her voice coming out a whisper.

He didn’t move. She was about to repeat her greeting when a banging noise from outside the room caused the man before her to whip around. Their eyes met. Neither breathed. The world froze for a second or an hour or maybe an eon. Then he was moving so fast that Diana’s mind could barely track the motion as he moved directly to her and wrapped his arms around her in a fierce embrace. She held him in her arms and felt like she could breathe deeply for the first time in a century.

“Angel.”, he whispered by her ear and Diana’s heart leapt. Only Steve called her that, and only that night in France, in a hotel within a village that nolonger existed. So many memories swelled to life in her mind’s eye.

“How?”, she asked.

“I don’t know.”, he whispered back.

“Steve.”

He nodded, his hold growing slightly tighter.

“Where am I?”

Diana almost wanted to laugh. She had this dream many times. Sometimes he was at the place where the League went to save the day, sometimes Bruce and Clark found him somewhere and brought him back, and for decades she had dreamed of waking and walking to her kitchen for some tea only to find him having just finished plating their breakfast, to greet her with a kiss as he moved to sit down with the paper and his coffee while she moved to some scrambled eggs and her own newspaper. Her mind had tortured her heart with hundreds of scenarios of Steve coming back.

  
“You’re in Virginia, at the Berkhart Museum of History.”

He nodded, moving back just a little to look around, before his bright blue eyes came to rest on her face. He smiled. She had missed that smile. The small one he directed at her and her alone.

  
“You aren’t in your uniform.”

She smiled.

“I only use it when I’m with the League, these days. Otherwise, I dress like any other woman.”

Steve gave her an odd look. Then it hit her. Maybe he did not know where or WHEN he was.

“Steve?”

He smiled. She almost forgot what she was going to ask.

“Do you know what year it is?”

He looked around again, letting out a sigh.

“Considering how you’re dressed, how these lights look, the weird way everyone else was dressed, the funny looks I got walking in here, and the fact you’re asking me that, I’m guessing we aren’t still in Woodrow’s term?”

She shook her head.

“2017, actually.”

Steve looked like he might fall over.

“It’s been 99 years?”

Diana nodded, never taking her eyes from his. She watched as his brain digested the information. He was now in the 21st century, in a museum partially dedicated to the war he died in, standing next to Diana- who still looked like she had when he died a century ago. He let out a breath like he might deflate.

“Etta? Chief?”

She stopped him before he could finish.

“Gone.”

Steve swayed a bit and Diana held him steady. Deciding she could not let him have any more of this in a strange building where anyone might walk in and see him, not to mention he was still wearing that stolen German uniform and his gun, she tugged at him to come along. He was in a daze and let her pull him with no protests or dragging of his feet.

It was not hard for Diana to get a cab, handing the driver a good chunk of cash and giving him the address for Diana’s hotel. He drove off and she sat with Steve, his hand wrapped around hers and his eyes watching the things they passed as the driver took them away. The whole world must have looked almost as foreign to him as it had to her 100 years ago. At least electric lights, cars, and phones had existed in his time so they were not going to be totally foreign concepts to him.

Arriving a few minutes later, Diana thanked the driver and helped maneuver Steve out and up the stairs to the lobby. She was able to get him to the elevator and punch in the button for her penthouse room. Once the doors closed, Steve looked around in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

He asked her, “Where is the elevator operator?”

She smiled.

“They haven’t had men in the elevators for years, in most hotels. Some nicer, more expensive ones, particularly in Europe, still have them. More for show and to help people with their luggage than to operate the elevator.”

Steve nodded.

“I always did figure that wasn’t a job that had much security.”

They arrived at her floor and Diana led Steve along, opening her door with an actual key only because of the historic stylings of the hotel. Soon she would have to introduce Steve to the electronic age. But for now, she just wanted to get him into the privacy of her rooms, away from prying eyes and distractions.

Inside, Steve stopped frozen. Diana looked around. Steve had been living rough when she met him, so her sumptuous, luxurious hotel room must have seemed like another planet compared to what he had been used to. Not to mention the huge, flat-screen TV and other objects he likely had no idea what they were.

“Go sit on the sofa.”

Steve did as she instructed, still looking about. Diana did not want to share Steve yet or doubt that he was her Steve, yet there was still a voice in her mind reminding her that this could be some elaborate trick or she might be under the influence of something she had never encountered before. Ares once made her see something that was not there. Her own naivety and anger had made her see what was not there. She was not infallible.

Pulling out her cell phone, Diana sent a quick message to Bruce. She wanted to let him know that someone from her past had just showed up, someone who should have been long dead, and that once she had spoken to this person and figured some things out, she would contact Bruce again. She also asked him not to disturb her for anything shy of WWIII. He would not like it, although he would respect her wishes and pass them along to the League. He also would be a great help later, she reasoned, when she had talked to Steve a bit more.

Once she was done, she moved over to Steve’s side. He looked her over and got a somewhat sad look. He knew.

“You don’t believe it’s really me sitting here, do you?”

She lets out a sigh.

“I’ve fought an alien made from a dead body, I’ve fought a woman cursed to a new form, and I’ve dealt with men who can command the sea. I have to consider that a man I watched die in 1918 and is now standing beside me in 2017, may not be the same man.”

He nodded.

“I had the same thought.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. He shrugged.

“I mean… I remember that night back… in Germany. I’m now sitting next to you, in a world that definitely looks like it has changed over decades since then, and… you are telling me this is the second decade of the 21st century. I just woke up and walked around the streets with everyone speaking with American accents, wearing strange clothes, and driving cars that are fully enclosed like a test tube, until I got to a museum where I saw my own picture listed under a banner for soldiers killed in a bygone era. It occurred to me that this was some weird dream or… that I fell through something like I did during another flight in a stolen German plane.”

He looked over at her adding, “And that time I also looked up to see an angel looking back at me.”

She smiled, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. His jacket scratched against her skin just the same as it had that night when he confronted her about Ares’s influence and how there was no one villain to slay.

“I don’t know how you came back, Steve. I almost don’t care.”

She reached and cupped his cheek in her hand, watching as he nuzzled it a bit and closed his eyes.

“You’re back. You’re not dead. If I weren’t worried that there was some sort of limited window and that you will simply disappear once I take my eyes off of you or when the sun comes up tomorrow, I could cast all my worries and questions aside and simply be happy you are back.”

He nodded, looking back at her seriously. Oh how she had missed those eyes. They truly were the windows to his soul.

“I understand. Even I wondered if I’ll still be here in an hour or if you’re having a dream and I’ll disappear when you wake up. So… how do we figure this out? The 21st century got some gizmo for that?”

She smiled.

“Not exactly. I know someone, he’s basically a genius. Kind of dark, brooding, and damaged. You’ll like him, he’s a bit like Charlie sometimes, though he doesn’t sing. Ever.”

Steve smiled.

“That’s sad.”

She smiled.

“He has a butler who is also pretty much a genius. If they can’t figure this out, they’ll know who or what to consult to help them figure it out. I promise.”

Steve nodded.

“Alright. Where are these geniuses?”

She smiled. ”Gotham.”

“I vaguely remember hearing that name before.”

“For now, perhaps I should order us some room service. I would bet you are hungry and it does not do to think so much on an empty stomach.”

Steve wanted to say he was used to living on the road and he’d eaten well at the little party in Veld. However, he thought if this really was 2017, then his last meal had been in 1918 in a village that probably still haunted Diana.

“Do they still have steak? If not, a sandwich will do.”

Diana smiled.

“Two steaks it is.”

She ordered up a meal for them, also asking them to bring up some extra fruit for later. She remembered Steve commenting how much he loved apples and how oranges were a delicacy in his opinion. Next, she called a local shop and ordered Steve some clothes, a shaving kit- as it was a nice enough shop to still sell straight razors and shaving crème warmers, and she ordered him a new fedora and jacket. It was winter here, and while not as biting at the winter in Germany, it was still something he should have a proper jacket in.

They had just finished their meal of steaks, baked potatoes, coffee, and some buttered bread, when there was a knock. Diana went to the door, telling Steve to finish off the apple he had snagged just after he finished his potato, and she was met by the one bellhop, a gentleman she recognized as working at the front desk during the night shifts mostly, and another delivery man from the one shop she had called. They had all the items she had ordered for Steve.

“Where would you like us to put these, Ms.Prince?”, asked the bellhop.

“Please, bring them into the living room?”

They all nodded and Diana reached for her purse. Once they had carefully put the clothing, hats, shoes, jacket, and such on the sofa, floor, and coffee table, she handed each of them a sizeable tip. They let themselves out, each saying their thanks for the tips, on their way.

Steve was looking at the pile of things, his apple core forgotten in his hand. Diana wanted to laugh. This was exactly how she had felt when she first saw the pile of things that went on underneath the dresses, when Etta took her shopping the first time. Etta would have laughed quite heartily at Steve’s face now.

“What is all that?”

She pointed to each item as she explained.

“The black leather bag has a complete shaving kit for you, including a warmer for the shaving crème and a straight razor. No one uses them anymore except for a few older men and some history buffs, so they aren’t easy to find anymore. The two longer grey bags are some pants for you, jeans and slacks, so you can have a suit, business casual, or everyday clothes. The white bags are a vest, a matching suit jacket, another vest, two button-up shirts, a couple T-shirts, and a pair of pejamas for you to sleep in. The boxes on the floor should be your dress shoes and a pair of sturdy boots. I wouldn’t dare get you sneakers until you can try them on to see what you like. There should be a couple belts in here somewhere, as well as a fedora to match the suit, and that red bag has a good jacket similar to what you wore back in that alley when Etta brandished my sword and shield.”

He smiled fondly.

“What became of Etta? Did she have a good life?”

Diana smiled.

“Yes. She had a wonderful life. She traveled often with me over the years, even after she married. Her husband, his name was Douglas, he was a kind and robust man. He did not know how to do anything small or quiet, he was loud and boisterous. He loved her well and she loved him dearly. They had 2 children, Nicholas Steven and Jonathan Trevor. Douglas passed shortly after their 35th anniversary and Etta was two months past her 100th birthday when she passed in her sleep. Nick and John were there with their wives and children, and some grandchildren. I told them I was the granddaughter of their mother’s friend, since they knew what Diana Prince looked like, so I told them I was Helen Prince. She outlived everyone.”

Steve nodded.

“Just like you.”

Diana gave him a sad smile. Even Etta had once commented on how it was only them, the ladies, who had survived ages and ages past the war’s close. The Chief had been the last of Steve’s compatriots, aside from Etta. Charlie had been the first they lost, Sameer several years later.

“And the others?”

“Charlie went back to Scotland and married a beautiful, stubborn young woman named Iona. They did not have any children, but they did sing together almost every evening. I used to visit them a lot, and Charlie told her everything, so she never questioned that I did not age even as they grew older. He passed away in his sleep in his late 70s. Iona passed away a week later. I think she could not tolerate the silence in his wake and she heard him singing when she slept, so she chose not to wake. Sameer also passed in his sleep, several years later, and he did become an actor. His wife was very beautiful. Jasmin and Sameer had four children, all girls, and he spoiled every one of them rotten. And the Chief, he never married and he continued to travel. He often traveled with Etta and I several times over the years, as well as continuing his trading and smuggling until he was very old. He was in his 90s when he came back to America and stayed with a few of his people for his last three winters. I attended his funeral, though they did not call it that.”

Steve fell back into the seat, next to the jacket. His whole team. When Diana confirmed he was in the year 2017, he had figured that meant Diana was all that was left. It was something different though to hear that they all had lived their lives and now had been gone for years. Then it hit him. Diana had been alone in Man’s World since Etta died.

“Diana?”

She came to sit on the edge of the coffee table, looking at him.

“Are you alone? I mean… do you have other friends now, people who fight beside you?”

Somehow it had never occurred to him that she would stop fighting. She would continue on, she would fight the good fight. The Amazons were the sworn protectors and all of that, but more, Diana did not know how to do nothing.

“I have a group I fight beside. They are called the Justice League. I’ll show you more about them later. They are all good men.”

Steve smiled.

“You’re the only woman?”

She nodded.

“So far. Although one member of the team has a girlfriend who is practically an honorary member. She’s lightening quick, too.”

Steve smiled. It was good to hear she had friends and allies. He could not bear to think of her being all alone. Even an Amazon warrior needed friends. All warriors needed someone to understand the ghosts they saw, and the beautiful woman who marveled at ice cream and whose heart broke over wounded soldiers deserved to have a friend.


	3. Introducing Steve to the League

Steve tugged at the collar of this shirt. It was far softer than the shirts he had worn back in Germany, though he could not get used to how low the collar was. It was… odd. Diana smiled over at him before hitting the button to take them up to the office at Wayne Enterprises. Bruce had suggested they come there and he would have Clark, Alfred, and Lois there as well. Lois and Clark came in under the cover of asking Bruce Wayne about the fallout from all the stuff with Luther Corp. and similar issues and no one batted an eye at Alfred coming and going.

“You’re sure about these guys?”

Diana nodded.

“Clark’s no slouch as a reporter, he’s actually pretty good. Lois however, lives up to being an award-winning journalist. If there is something out there in a public or semi-public record, she’ll have it fast. Bruce is a billionaire. And a genius with ties all over the world, legal and not. If he can’t find it, then it likely doesn’t exist.”

Steve let out a deep breath. He really was wishing he was facing off against Germans with mad ideas about world domination. At least then he usually knew what to expect and had permission to punch his way out if he had to. This was diplomacy with the new teammates of his Angel. He did not wish to embarrass her, to cause problems in her new life, or to become some sort of Guinea pig.

The doors opened to a hallway with yet another desk at the center, a woman with bright red hair sitting neatly at the center of the desk, in a suit that was clearly a uniform. Steve felt like he was walking into a prison to talk to one of the prisoners about a plot to take down the Kaiser. Diana just smiled at the woman.

“Hello, Lynda. I have an appointment with Mr.Wayne.”

The red head smiled, softening her features a small measure.

“He is expecting you, Ms.Prince. Although he already has a pair of reporters in there with him, he left instructions for you to be let in without waiting.”

Diana nodded with a friendly smile before the woman went back to what she was doing at the desk before the elevator doors opened. Steve followed along beside Diana. He had not missed that it seemed everyone still called her ‘Miss Prince’. She was still using that name.

They walked into the office, which was larger than any office any of the military commanders had back in Europe, and inside were four people. Steve took each one of them in, trying to suss out as much as possible about them.

First, the woman. Red hair just past her shoulders, not as tall as Diana by any means, wide blue eyes, a pen and pad in hand, her cell phone close by, a messenger bag sitting beside her in a heap with her jacket dumped atop it, wearing what Steve had learned was professional attire for women but with heels that were pretty high and thin. He wondered how women walked on those kind of shoes. They looked like torture devices. Or death traps.

She appeared ready for work, confident, but a bit uneasy. Probably the idea of meeting someone who had been dead for a century. Steve could completely understand. She also seemed to look at Diana in a way that suggested she understood more than any of the men in the room. Diana had explained that Superman, this Clark Kent guy, had died and come back as well so Ms.Lane probably did understand having someone you cared about die then return to life unexpectedly one afternoon.

Next was the dark haired man beside Ms.Lane. Taller than Steve by an inch or so, standing between the lady reporter and a small coffee machine that he appeared to be partaking of. Plaid shirt buttoned except for the top one with a stark white shirt beneath it, blue jeans, boots, glasses that did as much to hide his looks as they had done for Diana in ’18. He had a pen tucked into his shirt pocket and a small notepad in his back pocket, an empty coffee mug in his left hand with his right nearing the coffee pot when Diana opened the door.

He gave Diana a nod when she walked in and then looked Steve over in a way he would guess was looking through him even without Diana explaining Clark’s X-ray vision. There was something steady and solid about the man that made Steve feel like he was dealing with one of those men who seemed harmless until you laid a finger on their best friend or their girl. Then they exploded with a fury and skill you would never have guessed they possessed. 

Then there was an older gentleman who smiled upon making eye contact with Steve, and who addressed Diana fondly with the title, ‘Princess’. Diana had smiled in response and given the man a quick hug around his mug of coffee. Black, from the smell. A tweed vest to match the brown pants, combat boots, a dark green button-up shirt, a battered brown leather jacket, glasses, and hair that was more salt than pepper.

His accent was clear and crisp, as British as Steve’s was American, with a voice that sounded like old oak trees in a fairytale. He had a manner to him that made Steve think of bodyguards who were fond of longtime clients and had blurred the boundaries to become friends with their charges. The way he looked at and spoke to the owner of the building they were in, made it clear he thought of the man as family rather than a paycheck.

Lastly, the man who stood up from a large mahogany desk as they came in. He was even taller than Superman, his hair almost evenly split between salt and pepper, lines all about his face, and a way of standing that suggested he could tear you apart and that he was dealing with a recent back injury. Steve knew the stance. Thanks to a few rough landings and some of the places he slept after fights, he was intimately familiar with the stance.

He was a large, imposing man with a serious, grim determination that reminded Steve of many soldiers he had known. He also had the same broken look of men who had come back from No Man’s Land and had been couriers, never quite able to get the light back in their eyes afterwards. Whatever had happened to this man, it was never going to heal completely. Diana had mentioned the man was an orphan, yet Steve doubted that was the only wound causing that death in the man’s eyes.

“Captain Trevor, it is an honor to meet you.”, came Mr.Wayne’s greeting as he held out a hand to Steve. 

Steve shook the man’s hand and nodded once.

“Diana has told me a lot about you. All of you.”

He turned to look at the other three occupants in the room. Ms.Lane got up next and came to shake his hand, with Mr.Kent putting his coffee cup aside before he came over. Mr.Pennyworth waited until the other two had finished their introductions before he stood and offered a handshake to Steve. Steve made up his mind right there, Mr.Pennyworth was his favorite of Diana’s new friends.

“Captain Trevor?”, asked Ms.Lane.

“Please, call me Steve. The War is over, I doubt I still hold any rank.”

She nodded.

“Then please call me Lois, Ms.Lane makes me sound like a boss.”

Clark chuckled quietly behind her.

“You mean you aren’t?”, he added very quietly. Lois playfully swatted his chest with the back of her hand and gave him a Look, before turning back to Steve.

“I’m sorry about him. We usually don’t let him out much.”

Steve smiled.

“Keep him in the basement usually?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, except he keeps chewing through his restraints.”

Diana snorted behind Steve’s shoulder, as did Mr.Pennyworth.

“Steve, what is the first thing you remember after… after the plane in Germany?”

He thought for a second.

“I felt as though I needed to stretch and I was laying on a slab of metal in a used car back lot. I stood up and walked around, but I didn’t recognize anything.”

She nodded, writing it down.

“How did you find the museum, and why did you go there?”

He shrugged.

“I mostly just walked around, amazed at what I was seeing and trying to find something familiar. I kept getting a lot of odd looks, and it did occur to me that I was dressed in my stolen German uniform, and then it occurred to me that these people were dressed so oddly. But before that, nothing. I remember being on the plane, I remember reaching for my gun to fire into the tanks, and then I was stretched out on a metal slab, in 2017.”

Lois asked the next question so quickly even she didn’t have time to think about the ramifications or why it might be awkward for Steve to answer it.

“And what were your last impressions, your last thoughts before that? Was there any sort of trans or anything buzzing?”

Clark whispered her name sharply while Mr.Pennyworth’s eyes went wide and there was a flash across Diana’s. Steve smiled and waved it off.

“I thought about my men down there, Diana fighting Ares, where Dr.Poisen had gotten to, and what my next sight would be. Last time I fell out of the sky in a burning plane, I landed on Themyscira. Part of me thought I might get back there, I guess. The rest of me just hoped I didn’t go to Hell. Then, like I said, I was in that back lot.”

Mr.Pennyworth spoke up next.

“Have you gone back to that used car lot? Spoken to anyone there?”

Steve shook his head. Diana shrugged.

“Bruce said he sent someone there to check and make sure there wasn’t anything obviously hinky. I have not yet looked there.”

Steve nodded, not adding that Diana had barely let him out of her sight since he showed up four days ago. He also did not wish to mention that he had almost no desire to let her out of his sight either. In fact, he was afraid to sleep, thinking he might end up waking up back on that infernal plane over Germany.

Mr.Wayne stepped around his desk, holding up a few photos. Steve recognized the back lot he woke up in and some of the area around it on the one side, which was where he had walked past when he was leaving. Mr.Wayne handed them around to the people gathered, and everyone took a gander at them.

“Nothing set off any alarm bells. No alien tech, nothing supernatural, no porthole to another realm or dimension that I noticed. I ran a few different scans. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing I could find were some boot prints that did not match the two men working there and weren’t found anywhere inside. Then again, that could just be someone who came looking for spare parts and is regular enough that they didn’t have to come inside to talk before they went shopping out back.”

Mr.Wayne then looked up at Steve.

“Mr.Trevor, I’m not sure what happened, but we will look into it and try to figure out what happened to you.”

Steve nodded.

“Thank you.”

Mr.Pennyworth put his cup aside and grabbed a small wooden chest the size of a table-top jewelry box. It had a metal tag place holder and a yellowed tag within it, and it smelled a bit of an old warehouse or barn. He came to stand closer to Steve as Mr.Wayne walked back to his desk and Lois had returned to her seat.

“Mr.Trevor, these are your effects from the War Department. They may or may not be under the impression that Steven Trevor born August 1980 and now traveling with one Ms. Diana Prince, is the great-grandnephew of Captain Steve Trevor, and therefore the last remaining relative and rightful owner of these belongings.”

He handed Steve the box and Diana spoke up.

“Thank you, Alfred.”

The older man smiled.

“You’re both most welcome. I have friends who I can call about such things and get them taken care of. A couple of those friends are looking into that used car lot, the area around that base in Germany, the plane, and some other things that may be connected.”

Steve held the box, not wishing to open it in front of these relative strangers. All of them seemed to understand that and not a one asked him to open the box. Diana and Lois exchanged a few more ideas, with Clark, Mr.Wayne, and Alfred chiming in from time to time. Steve mostly stood back and listened.

After another hour or so, Diana and Steve left. Lois and Clark followed shortly there after, leaving Alfred and Bruce. Bruce was still behind his desk thinking, while Alfred was sitting on the chair he had occupied through most of the meeting. He could tell his former ward was thinking, his wheels whirling madly, to figure this out.

“Any ideas?”, asked Alfred.

“I think there is another party involved. Someone. A scientist who is somehow cloning or reforming the dead, somehow able to transfer their memories and emotions, so their whole personality is intact. Maybe an alien force that can do time travel and plucked Captain Trevor from the past to bring him to the present. If you were accurate enough, precise enough, you could pull someone out in the half second between when they set off a chain reaction and when the chain reaction caught up to them. Which would explain Trevor’s recollection of pulling the trigger and the explosion Diana saw, yet Trevor still being alive now with no recollection of anything in between.”

Alfred nodded.

“Are you alright with this?”

Bruce looked up, confused and still trying to piece together how Captain Trevor could suddenly pop up alive and looking just the same as he did 99 years after his death in a fire.

“What?”

“Bruce, I know you were beginning to develop feelings for Ms.Prince, and now her long lost love just walks into a museum one day when she happens to be there, and now appears firmly fixed to her side.”

Bruce nodded.

“Another piece of the puzzle. She was visiting. It isn’t like he popped up in New York, where she and a million others have an apartment. He showed up just a few blocks, easy walking distance, from a WWI museum where Diana just happened to be visiting that day.”

Alfred nodded.

“There is a photo of Captain Trevor, already on display there.”

That got Bruce’s attention.

“Is it labeled?”

Alfred nodded.

“If you get one of the little pamphlets that has a map of the wall with the photos, and says the name of each person pictured, or at least all the ones they know of. There are a few who aren’t named, just their rank and location are given based on the uniforms they are wearing. Captain Trevor, however, is one of those identified. I checked the records. Ms.Prince is the one who identified the photo as being of Steve.”

Bruce nodded. He had thought there had to be someone in Diana’s past that she measured everyone else against. They all had that one person who became their standard of measurement. Selena was his. Steve, it seemed, had been Diana’s. And now she had him back.

Alfred stood, moving to crack his spine as he did so. Bruce knew that motion. Alfred was thinking and had a particular train going in that mysterious mind of his. One Bruce likely would hate. 

“I will talk to a few friends, and see what I can find out. I know a couple Germans who might even be able to tell me if weird things are known to happen there, Bermuda Triangle style weird things. If there are Bermuda Triangle type events happening in that area, we might have another piece of the puzzle.”

Bruce nodded.

“Alfred?”

He turned back to look at his former ward.

“I’m not expecting Selena to show up like Steve. And I’m glad Diana got him back.”

Alfred nodded, then walked out.


	4. Steve's Box and Diana's Treasures

Returning to Diana’s apartment, Steve placed the wooden box in his hands atop her kitchen island that doubled as a dining room table. Diana walked past him to hang up her coat and then move to the kitchen counter. Steve just stared at the box. He wasn’t entirely sure what would be inside. Or if it was really his. Mr.Wayne and Lois had posited the idea that he might be some sort of clone with implanted memories. Would that make him Steve Trevor 2, Steve the lesser, or some wholly different being?

Diana walked past him, an odd look on her face as she headed back to the bedroom of her hotel. Steve worried that with his possibly being a clone or some sort of alien experiment that she would not want to be around him. Or that after four day of being practically joined at the hip, she was tired of him. Then she reappeared with her own box.

Placing the box next to Steve’s, she slid onto the barstool next to Steve, patting the one at his hip as an invitation. He hopped into the seat and waited. Diana opened the box she had brought in, then slipped her hand inside. The first item she retrieved was Steve’s watch. It was now in a small glass case within another soft leather cover.

“It still works, in case you’re wondering. It has taken a licking and kept on ticking.”

Steve smiled, hearing her speaking so fondly of his watch.

“Here. You should have it back.”

Steve shook his head.

“No, it’s yours now.

“Just because they suggested you may be some sort of clone does not make it so, Steve.”

He held up a hand and shook his head.

“I gave that to you, it’s yours now. You don’t return gifts. Chief would have had your hair if you’d done that in front of him.”

She smiled. Reaching in again, she came out with a medal in the case and another with a little cloth pin in red, white, and blue with a golden thread holding it together. The medal he recognized. Valor. His name was inscribed in the back.

“They gave this to your sister, and she gave it to her son, and he died before he got a chance to give it to his son. His son had a large sale, that he ran long-distance since he was serving in Africa at the time your nephew passed. This happened to be in a box that was for sale, so I bought it to keep it safe. The pin is Etta’s. She gave it to me a few years after the War was over. These were given out to the women at the various The War Is Over parties and parades, and she kept hers from whichever one she had been at.”

Steve held the little pin and felt a pining for his friend. Suddenly he better understood how Etta had described feeling a couple times when he had been written off as dead on some impossible mission, and he didn’t send her word till he just showed up.

Diana smiled sadly at the pin between Steve’s fingers.

“She said sometimes, when she was at train stations, when we were in Germany once, and when she was watching air shows with her boys, she would half expect to turn around and see you walking up right as rain. She said you did that to her so many times before that she couldn’t quite break herself of the habit of half-expecting a dead man to just show up as if nothing had happened.”

Steve handed her back to the pin, which she put back in along with the watch and the medal. The next item she retrieved was different. A small carved piece of bone in the shape of a hawk. He recognized the handiwork.

“Chief?”

She nodded.

“He gave me several of these over the years. I still have all of them, but this one was my favorite. He used to say sometimes when hawks would fly overhead, he thought he could hear you call his name. He figured a sharp-eyed, super-fast, agile bird would have been a perfect spirit animal for you. I couldn’t disagree.”

He held the small hawk while she reached for another item, this time coming up with a case for a picture. When she opened the wallet-like packet, there was a delicate black and white photo under a piece of glass, that was of Sameer. He was done up and dressed like someone in ancient Rome. Steve looked at the photo. Sameer seemed very happy.

Diana put the two items away before pulling out another, this time a picture of Charlie and a young woman sitting up on a small stage. Charlie was at a beat up piano and the woman was playing a violin, both appeared to be singing and smiling. 

“They look happy.”

Diana nodded.

“You would have been hard pressed to find anyone happier than the two of them. Especially when they played music for an appreciative, lively crowd.”

He handed her back the photo and Diana reached for one more item, though this time there was a certain shyness to her movements. When she handed him the item, it needed no introduction. He recognized it instantly. The key he used to let them into that little room in Veld, Germany. The place where he confessed to her how he had thought her an angel the first time he saw her on the beach.

“I can’t believe you have this.”

She looked down at her hands.

“I had forgotten about it, in my cloak. When we were leaving, I was so worried that Charlie, Sameer, and Chief weren’t going to come with us, that I would have to take care of you and the mission, and even of them being upset about what had gone on between us that night, as well as worrying about if I was strong enough to take on Ares and save you all…How naïve I was.”

Steve reached over, holding her hand to give it a squeeze.

“You had been in man’s world for only a little over a week. Most people are still pretty naïve at that stage.”

She smiled up at him and he felt like the sun had just been born in front of him.

“I found the key the day after, when Chief brought my cloak back to me and we were walking back to England. Etta gave me a little pouch to keep it in. Even without really explaining it to her, she still knew what it meant to me.”

Steve nodded. Etta always was smarter and far more observant than anyone gave her credit for. She had not totally trusted the man who turned out to be Ares, and had warned Steve a couple times, when Steve was too far gone in his tunnel vision about saving everyone and stopping the war. He had been as naïve as Diana, in his own way. That there could be a war to end all wars.

“What did they do with Veld? Do you know?”

She nodded.

“There is another village there. They build stuff at a local factory and there are enough people to warrant two schools. They have a memorial just outside of the town, dedicated to the people who lost their lives in Veld and to the team who tried to stop the slaughter just one day earlier.”

Steve let out a long breath. He doubted that even a hundred more years from now that Diana would be any less haunted by that. She had been so happy that night. They had saved the day, she had gotten to see a glimpse of what it was like in Man’s World when they weren’t at war, and she got to learn to dance while enjoying her first snowfall. A magic night if ever there had been one. Then the next day it was all ripped away from her.

“Come on.”

She looked up at him, eyebrow raised in confusion.

“Where are we going?”

He smiled and moved over to the small record player she had. Thankfully she had kept her Gotham apartment somewhat low-tech and historically accurate, so Steve did not have to navigate her newfangled items to produce music for him. Turning back to face her, he smiled widely and held out his hand while some slow music he didn’t recognize, played behind him.

“Dance with me?”

She tilted her head to the side, smiling brightly. In her dark red sweater and dark blue jeans, she looked every bit an angel to him.

“Come on, I haven’t had a dance with a beautiful woman in a hundred years.”

She walked over to join him, letting him put her hands into place just as he had done that night, then they swayed.

“This is not dancing, Steve. This is swaying.”

He smiled, coming close enough to have kissed her.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it a few times.”

She smiled and let him lead in their sway.

The next morning, Diana woke to find Steve gone but he had left her a note on her pillow. “Gone to meet with Lois and Clark, made you breakfast. If you want to look in the box, go ahead. I did last night. Nothing that helps figure this out. Will be back by noon.”, and he signed it, “Yours, Steve”. She smiled, tucking the note into her nightstand to be put in her treasure box later.

Heading into the kitchen, she saw that he had made her a sandwich and had scrambled eggs. She wondered how she didn’t smell that and wake up, unless she had just thought it was a dream about Steve. Sometimes, first thing in the morning, she was a bit unsure if she was still dreaming or if she had truly woken.

Sitting down with the breakfast of sliced fruit, the sandwich that mostly consisted of bacon and cheese, scrambled eggs, and coffee, she went through Steve’s box. Inside she found his medical records, three medals that he won and she guessed were never given to him due to him working covertly. There was also a folded flag from his memorial service, as there had been no body to bury.

Diana thought back to her conversation with Bruce at Clark’s funeral in Smallville. Of how hard it was to watch Lois and Martha, yet how hard it was to watch the people in Metropolis, since they did not have a body to bury. She was all too familiar with that feeling. 

Finally, she found the last two items. A letter meant for his parents if they had outlived him and he were killed in action, and a picture of him with his sister and parents standing in front of another small plane. Judging by what he was wearing and the dirt on his face, she would guess he had just landed and his family came over to his side for the picture. He looked like he had been 19 or 20 when the picture was taken, and she looked at the photo. It reminded her a bit too much of the one she saw that day in the square.

Finishing off the delicious breakfast, Diana moved to sit on the balcony of her apartment with her newspaper, another set aside on the chair next to hers as she awaited Steve’s return. A few people she and Bruce had contacted, responded with texts and one phone call while she waited, giving her a few ideas and a whole lot of questions.

Steve returned and she wanted to chuckle. He had gone to wearing jeans, informing her they were comfortable, but seeing him with a white button-up tucked into the jeans, a brown leather belt, his grey vest buttoned up the front, fedora, and his boots, she almost wanted to address him as Dr.Jones, yet she knew he wouldn’t understand the reference. Perhaps, when this was all over, she would have a marathon of films with him that she thought he would like.

He greeted her with a kiss on her forehead before moving to sit on the seat next to hers, picking up the paper and putting it across his lap and he let out a deep sigh.

“No luck?”, she asked.

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

Diana asked him, “If we do not find out how you returned, would it bother you terribly?”

He shrugged.

“I’m more worried about knowing the expiration date or if there are other ramifications.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know. Does this mean I can’t die, I just keep coming back over and over like this guy in a folktale I heard once? Does it mean there was something about that gas that had effects we didn’t understand? Or something else far scarier that I haven’t worked out yet.”

Diana could understand that. She too had worried about those things, as well as if Steve might not actually be human- if he was more akin to Clark or Arthur, or if this was the work of Ares somehow. She had even wondered if there was some interdimential shift going on, due to future-Barry having meddled with time and space. Or if he was going to just disappear one morning, if he would suddenly start aging to catch up like that Mel Gibson movie she once watched.

Leaning forward, Diana placed a hand atop Steve’s and waited till he looked at her.

“Whatever happens Steve, we are in this together. I will not leave you.”

He smiled, turning his second hand to lay it across where hers rested on his first hand, giving her palm a gentle squeeze as he returned her gaze.

“I’m not leaving you either, Angel. Not if I have any say in the matter.”


	5. Learning to 21st Century

Diana came into the living room of her Gotham apartment, and found a most unexpected sight. Steve crouched over her coffee table, with her laptop, his knees almost higher than his elbows as he attempted to type, a pencil between his teeth, pad open to his right, and growling under his breath. And all while in a snug white T-shirt and blue jeans. She had thought she had chosen the shirt sizes a bit better than that, however it had been a long time since she bought clothing for a man.

“How do you get this infernal thing to work?”, he asked as he looked up at her, pencil falling to the floor.

“Practice. Patience.”

Steve let out a sigh and turned to glare at her laptop.

“I hate it.”

She smiled.

“I hated corsets.”

He nods.

“Do people really use these things every day in this century?”

She nodded. He growled again.

“Then I suppose I have to learn to deal with it.”

Diana smiled, and told him, “On that note, I have a present for you.”

Steve looked up, his face a bit troubled.

“I feel bad about you having to educate, house, and finance me, Diana. Not to mention all the worrying, and all the effort your friends are throwing into this.”

Diana shrugged.

“You lead me around Man’s World. Consider this returning the favor.”

“You had saved my life the day before, I owed you.”

She shook her head.

“You protected me not ten minutes after I plucked you out of the water. We were even. I showed you the way out, you let me sleep to rest up as you navigated and explained your world to me. We were still even, yet you showed me around, introduced me to Etta and your team, bought me dinner, clothing, several drinks. Ice cream too.”

He smiled. No matter how long he lived, seeing Diana with her first ice cream cone would always be one of his clearest, most fond memories he would ever have. The look of pure joy as she bit into it, tasting the vanilla and crème. It was like seeing a child’s face the first time they encountered an exotic fruit.

“I still wish I could be more helpful.”

She smiled at him, moving to sit beside him, her poise still making him feel like an awkward stick bug by comparison. He saw the box she slid his way on the coffee table. The size of a deck of cards and made of cardboard. When she gestured for him to open it, he complied. Within was a small piece of tech.

“What is it?”

Diana pointed to a button and pressed it, causing a small screen on it to light up.

“It’s a phone. Mine has a screen that lets touch the screen and do things. I wasn’t sure how you would do with that, so I got you one with buttons. They are less popular, although there are still a good number of people who prefer buttons.”

He held it up and began toying around with it. It was a fair amount simpler than the one Diana carried. The one Bruce Wayne carried was outright insane looking. Steve would have been afraid to crush the thing in his hands, let alone try to use it. This appeared more durable.

“Now you can call me wherever you are and anyone in the League can get ahold of you right away if they need to.”

That made sense. Practically 80 percent of the Justice League were looking into what was going on. Clark was using both his contacts as a reporter and his access to a few pieces of Kryptonian gear he still had. Lois, though not technically a League member, was working on trying to figure out how Steve was alive. Arthur was talking to some people back at home, and so on and so forth.

Diana watched Steve using the new phone, getting the hang of it. Part of her wanted to know how long it would take him to try the same trick he used in Veld. Part of her was also curious to see how long before he wanted to try using a smart phone like hers. He seemed to be catching on pretty quickly.

Steve let out a small sigh and turned to make a confession.

"I tried to do my own laundry. Shrank everything in the white load."

Diana smiled.

"That's why I came over to the computer. I thought I could be more useful here and less likely to damage anything."

Just as Diana was about to suggest they take the day off from sleuthing their way through the past 101 years, trying to dig out the gem they needed to figure this all out, there was a knock at the door. Diana smiled as she got up, gesturing for Steve to stick to his computer and phone.

Opening the door, she found Bruce standing there. With her building security and the sword she had by the door, there was no need for her to be looking through a peep hole. As usual, he was impeccably dressed, the suit fitting perfectly as he stepped inside.

“Good afternoon.”

She nodded, gesturing for him to come into the living room.

“Steve is in there trying to work on a map of odd events around the used car lot, over the past thirty years.”

Bruce nodded once, walking into the living room.

“Using a phone and a computer at the same time. I would say someone has joined the 21st century.”

Steve looked up and offered a small smile.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee, I just started some before Diana got home a few minutes ago. It ought to be ready by now.”

Bruce waved him off with a polite smile.

“Thank you, no. I’ve just come to drop off some info I was able to scare up about a couple incidents on that spot of the map that used to be called Veld, as well as the nearby castle, the old base, and a couple other close-by hot-spots of weird activity. Disappearances, crop circles, livestock born with extra limbs, and all sorts of weird. Alfred also sent this.”

Bruce handed a small kit over to Steve, leaving it on the coffee table.

“It’s a tourguide booklet for Gotham with Alfred’s notes about what they got wrong, and what you ought to see instead of what they suggested. He came over here from England, so he claims to be an expert on telling people what to skip.”

Steve smiled. He was absolutely sure now that Alfred was his favorite of Diana’s 21st century friends. By far.

“Please tell him I said Thanks. I will read this tonight. Get my bearings.”

Bruce looked over at Diana and saw she was beaming. Her love was returned and her friends appeared to taking him in. Bruce supposed there was no reason she ought to be doing anything but smiling.

“I have a meeting across town, so I’ll leave you to your research.”

Steve nodded, thanking Bruce again before Bruce left, Diana also thanking him before she closed the door to his back. Bruce headed back down to the towncar waiting for him while Diana turned back to Steve. It was good to have him back.

Moving over to sit beside him on the sofa, Diana watched him working the computer. She helped pointing out things here and there to him to help, but otherwise left him alone while she read through the files Bruce had sent. Without realizing it, being leaned against Steve’s shoulder and comfortable in her seat, she quickly slipped off to sleep.


	6. End of the War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback with Etta, Chief, Sameer, Charlie, and Diana.

Diana walked around the corner to find Etta with a group of women, all wearing ribbons across their bodies announcing the end of the war and a victory for the good guys. Etta meanwhile, wore only a small ribbon pinned to the lapel on her jacket, a similarly patterned ribbon around her hat with a bright blue and gold pin holding it into her hair.

When Etta turned and saw Diana, she abandoned the women at the corner with her to rush over to Diana, wrapping her taller friend in a bear hug. Diana returned the gesture, though far more gently. She did not wish to break the red head.

“It is so good to see you! I wasn’t sure you would come.”

Diana almost didn’t, though she was not about to admit it.

“I was able to find transportation, so it was not that hard. Have you seen anyone?”

Etta nodded.

“Sameer was here earlier. I think he might have finally found someone to finance his new movie, and as much as they were lapping it up, he’ll probably get to star in it and direct it.”

Diana smiled for her friend’s good fortune.

“That is good to hear. Very good. Nothing from Charlie or Chief?”

Etta shrugged.

“Not so far. Although Charlie had been working with someone quite aways from here, in some town I can’t pronounce the name of without spitting on whomever I’m speaking to.”

Etta gave a nervous laugh and Diana wanted to hug her again. She had missed Etta.

“Now that the war is over, what will you do?”, she asked.

Diana shrugged.

“I don’t know. I have not thought much about it.”

Etta nodded.

“Perhaps you should work for a museum. They hire women! You’re educated and can read lots of languages, you would be a shoe-in, for sure. It would allow you to travel, to learn all about the history you missed while out of Man’s World, and you can change which one you work for every so often.”

Diana had to agree, it was a good plan. She was going to ask Etta for more suggestions about which one she ought to start at, when she smelt cheap booze and dirty wool. Turning, she found Charlie swaying on his feet, grinning ear to ear, making his way towards Etta and Diana.

“HELLO MY LADIES!”, he shouted.

Etta leaned over.

“Now I really wish Chief were here.”

Diana smiled, having already heard the rattle of Chief’s bottomless bag he carried with him at all times. Turning to face the other direction, she spotted Chief walking towards them, a smile on his face. He waved in greeting and Diana returned the gesture.

When both men had reached them, Diana smiled and greeted them both, asking about where they had been lately. Charlie was slurring his way through explaining about how he had been in France when he learned of the war’s end, when they heard a few men firing off their guns. Charlie screamed the men to shove off, Chief just stood there shaking his head at the waste, Etta jumped out of her skin, and Diana scowled a bit before looking over at Etta and Chief, as Chief had an arm around Etta’s shoulders, trying to calm her down a bit.

“My friends!”

They turned to see Sameer heading their way with a tray of beers. Diana’s mind reeled back several months, to another night in Germany when Sameer brought them each a beer to celebrate the small victory. A night she never wished to forget, no matter how painful it was to recall it.

He dashed over, quick as he dared with the tray, and smiled brightly at them all. Charlie moved for the drink faster than the bullets he fired from his gun. Etta was a bit more reserved about it and the look on her face when she sipped the amber liquid was worth ten pictures. Chief refrained and no one pressed him about it. Diana and Sameer took a beer each and Charlie offered to drink Chief's share, no one else fighting him for it.

The beer was warm as were the friends on the corner, each enjoying what might well be their last night en-company. The women Etta had been standing with were giving the group an odd and somewhat disdainful look. Etta looked up at them and told them about themselves.

“Either join in or find somewhere else to revel.”

Diana was proud of the red head, offering a cheer with her beer before they all took a sip and Chief tipped his hat to Etta, who blushed. This team was still a team despite tragedy, time, and distance. Diana hoped it would continue despite the peace that had been hard-won.

Etta lifted her glass and made the toast Diana had known would be inevitable.

“To Steve.”

They all raised their glasses, and Chief took off his hat, Charlie downing his first drink and starting on Chief’s share. Diana finished off her glass and she asked them each where they would go next.

“Home. Then maybe to California to make flickers.”, was Sameer’s answer. Diana was not entirely sure what a flicker was, yet she hoped he made the best ones.

“Back to the States for a bit, then maybe come back to Europe.”, was Chief’s answer.

“Back to Scotland! Find myself a young lassie willing to marry a former itenerate drunk and former sniper. We can tour the continent making music.”

Etta smiled.

“I’ve had a former beau make contact, and he would like to try again. Or perhaps I’ll chuck it all and go to America, see if I can find myself a wild cowboy in need of a former secretary.”

Diana loved all of their plans.

“What about you?”, Chief asked.

“I am not yet sure. Etta has suggested I try working at a museum.”

They all smiled, and Sameer spoke up first.

“That would be an excellent idea! With all those languages you speak and read, they would be lucky to have you, wherever you worked.”

Chief agreed with a nod, and Charlie slapped her back through her thick cape.

“Aye lassie, that would be an excellent idea indeed! You ought to do it. Plenty to learn there too.”

Etta smiled.

“I’m glad I had such a wonderful idea.”

Diana put an arm around her friend’s shoulders.

“You often do have them, Etta.”

They all continued to stand there a while longer before Sameer and Charlie disappeared to find them more to drink, while Etta and Chief lead the way to a nearby abandoned bar that had only a few other soldiers in it, all drinking a bit more quietly than most of the revelers around. The rest of the even and all the night were spent drinking, talking, toasting, Charlie occasionally singing, and with Etta trying to figure out how to get everyone together again in a year or so.

For years to come, Diana thought on that night as being much the way her mother must have thought of the day at the beach through till Diana left with Steve. Pride in those you loved and their ability to carry on without you, yet saddened at all the adventures and heartbreak they would have without you there to share it with them. She missed her mother as keenly as she missed Steve, and in a few decades she knew she would be missing those who gathered around to celebrate the close of the war.


	7. Setting the Trap

Steve found it was his turn to wake up to an empty apartment, this time in Diana’s Los Angelos apartment. He swore she must have had one in every major American city and every other major European city. Rising, he rubbed at his neck, unable to shake the feeling of something being off.

His bones ached a bit, his skin felt too small, and his ears were buzzing a bit. Overall, he just felt nasty. He wondered if he was coming down with something. All the travel and the time spent sitting up either pouring over information with Diana or worrying about the ramifications of his being alive again, would not have done him any favors for his resistance. Not to mention all the new illnesses that did not exist or were different a hundred years ago.

Making his way to the kitchen, he started up the coffee machine only to find a note from Diana. “Bruce called, he has something waiting for me at a local branch of his company. Be back by 10. Got some pizza in the fridge, feel free to reheat and dig in.” He smiled.

He had finished his second slice and was working on his third cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. Steve did not recognize the number, yet he answered it. He wasn’t sure why people made such a big deal about knowing who it was BEFORE they would answer their phones. He was careful, hitting the Answer button, and bringing the small item to his ear.

“Steve speaking.”

A strange voice that was both eerily familiar and totally foreign to him, came through the speaker to his ear.

“Hello, Steven Trevor. Your new mission begins today.”

Diana returned at a quarter till 10 with a fresh watermelon under her arm and a bottle of wine in her opposite hand. She had intended to try to romance Steve a bit tonight, in hopes of getting his mind off of the investigation. He thought she hadn’t noticed, yet Diana had been very aware he was not sleeping as much as he liked to pretend he was. The bags under his eyes were proof enough of that.

She knocked and received no answer. For a moment she allowed herself to think Steve had finally fallen asleep deeply enough not to wake at a sudden noise or that he had managed to sleep in and was just slow in getting to the door. Yet, in her gut, she knew something was wrong. Something big.

Opening the door with her key card, she walked in to find the apartment spotless as ever. No sign of struggle, no sign of Steve. Setting aside the fruit and drink, she went about checking her rooms. Steve’s one pair of shoes, his jacket, and his cell phone were all missing. He had not left her a note either. Now she was worried.

Pulling up her own phone, she hit the combination of buttons Bruce had instructed her about. He had told her it was for in case Steve got lost in one of the towns they went to or while he and Diana were investigating, if she got worried and couldn’t locate Steve. It allowed her to find his cell phone, at least, and she had given him instructions never to ever allow it out of his reach.

According to his phone, he was just outside of the city and heading towards some old military base. Diana felt a strike of lightening in her bones. It was the same feeling she had gotten when she saw Ares for the first time, in his true form, on that base 99 years ago. He was back. And Steve was heading straight for him.

Diana headed straight for her car, her sword, shield, and lasso already inside the boot. She waited till she was almost out of the city before she alerted Bruce and Clark. Both offered to come help but she reminded them that there would be nothing Bruce could do and probably very little Clark could do against him. She suggested they gather the League and be ready, just in case this did not go well.

Bruce asked if Steve was alright, and Diana simply told them the truth. She hoped Steve was alright. Clark suggested that she leave her cell in the car, that way it wouldn’t get damaged and she could call them for help if she needed it later. She agreed, then hung up.

Driving at speeds she normally would never do, Diana wheeled her car rapidly towards the abandoned base. She was not losing Steve. Not again. She would tear Ares in half and smash the two pieces into the ground before she would lose Steve again.

She arrived in record time, switching into her armor quickly before grabbing her shield, lasso, and the new sword Bruce had made for her from material Arthur had furnished. On her head she wore the last piece of Antiope she had left, her gauntlets and shield reminders of her training.

It did not take long to find Steve. He was sitting in the middle of what had once been a warehouse for the bombs and such. He was holding a gun and his shoulders were shaking as if under some terrible strain.

“Steve?”

He shook harder.

“Leave, Diana.”

There was something wrong with his tone. He sounded angry, scared, and broken. He did not sound like her Steve.

“Why, Steve?”

He turned quickly, his whole arm shaking as he gripped the gun so tightly in his right hand that she worried he would bruise the bones in his hand. His eyes were bloodshot, his breathing uneven and labored, and his body covered in a thick sweat. For a moment, she was reminded of the time he spent wrapped in the lasso back on Themyscira, kneeled before her mother. He was under the compulsion of Ares.

“Don’t worry, Steve. We’ll fix this.”

He offered her a sad, shaky smile.

“I don’t think so, Angel. I think this is going to end the same way it did in ’18.”

She shook her head fervently, her eyes never leaving him.

“No.”

Stepping forward, she had made four strides when Steve shouted her name and the gun came flying up to aim at her.

“No, please? Please, Diana? Run! Get away!”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

He shook violently, his sweating growing worse, and his voice hoarse as he spoke.

“I can’t stop it. I’m trying…so hard but… I just.. can’t.”

Ares was fully exerting his will over Steve. The fact that Steve was still resisting reaffirmed what she had known all along. He was a strong man, and a stubborn one. He was, as he has said so many years ago, above average.

Holding up both hands, she stood her ground.

“You will not shoot me, Steve Trevor. You will not.”

He shook so badly that even the parts of the gun were beginning to rattle against each other. If he did fire, he would probably miss her by at least ten feet.

“Just put it down, Steve? Please?”

A tear slipped down his cheek as he labored out another breath.

“I can’t. Diana, please, just go?”

She shook her head. She would not leave him.

“Not going to happen. I left you behind in 1918, I’m not leaving you behind this time. We fight together, or we die together.”

Steve lost another tear and panted for breath. The gun still shook. His whole body shook.

“Please?”

Diana took another step closer to him. She watched as the gun kept trained on her, despite how badly Steve shook.

“You won’t hurt me, Steve. You couldn’t. You protect people, you save people. You saved thousands of lives in a single night. You can save one life today.”

He was clearly trying to make the gun point elsewhere, to remove his finger from being near the trigger. Diana took another step closer. Steve had tears streaming down his face at this point and he was gritting his teeth so hard she feared he would break his own jaw.

“You can do this, Steve.”

He shook harder. Diana took another step closer.

“You can do it.”

Steve whispered her name between his clenched teeth. Diana offered him a small smile. If he did fire, she wanted him to know she would not blame him. This was Ares’s work.

“Do you remember the night we danced? When the snow began to fall and you told me to touch it? Do you remember what I asked you?”

He nodded slightly, almost inperceptively considering how badly his body rattled and twisted.

“You told me that people had breakfast, they read the newspaper, they got married, they went to work every day. We never got to have any of that. And I am not ready to say goodbye to those dreams again, Steve.”

He let out a strangled noise and Diana took another step towards him.

“You can do this Steve. You took up a plane full of toxic chemicals, you fought Germans on a beach with a stolen gun, you helped me fight in Veld with tactics you saw for a moment two weeks earlier, you took on Dr.Poison. You can do this, Steve. You can fight Ares.”

Steve’s eyes were shining and bloodshot as he looked back at her.

“I’m sorry Angel. Anything I do just makes it worse.”

Diana smiled.

“Do nothing.”

Steve arched his eyebrows.

“Do. Nothing.”

With the brightening of his eyes, she knew he understood. She saw his muscles relax and then the gun went limp in his hand. Diana breathed. Then there was a loud cracking sound and Diana saw a large, looming man in the corner of the warehouse. Ares.

Looking over to Steve, she could see that he had tried to react to the sound and now he was aiming straight at her heart once more. His body shook, his knuckles were white as he gripped the gun, and he was laboring for air. Diana feared he would have a heart attack at this rate, before she could talk him down or save him.

“Diana, please?”

She grasped his meaning, and shook her head. She was not going to make a move to hurt him. He was just a mere mortal man. She could break him in half if she wasn’t careful.

“I love you.”

She shook her head. Not again. Not like it had happened in 1918. She was not going to let him die so she could have a clear shot at Ares because she couldn’t save the day and the world all at once. This time, she put Steve first.

Taking another step forward, she put her shield and sword aside. If he fired, she would use her bracelets and make sure the ricochet did not hit Steve. She had plenty of practice in No Man’s Land and in the past couple years working with the League.

Steve shook and begged, his teeth still clenched and his breath coming in pants. Behind them, she could see Ares smiling beneath his helmet as he watched, his one hand extended as he exerted his will over Steve.  
“Release him!”, she shouted.

Ares’s grin widened.

She was almost within arm’s reach of Steve when he closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He was doing it. He was doing nothing, therefore short-circuiting whatever Ares was doing to him. Diana saw Ares moving a little closer and making his hand go to a fist as he pointed it towards Steve. He was trying harder.

“I’ve got him Angel. Your turn.”

She smiled, then turned to Ares. Picking up her sword and shield, she took off in a run for him. They met, blade to blade, with a mighty clash. The shock-wave sent a wall to cracking, knocked most of the shelved items to the ground, and put Steve on his back. Diana moved to make sure she was between Steve and Ares.

“Come on, brother. If you want me, you have to get me yourself.”

He grinned wickedly at her.

“Very well then, I shall do just that.”

He moved for her and Diana parried his blow. He came again. She countered.

“You’ve acquired a new sword, little sister. Is this one another god-killer?”, he taunted.

“No.”, she returned, ducking his blow and sliding across the ground to come back up on her feet, blade ready.

“I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Queen Hippolyta, leader of the Justice League, and I am here to end your reign of cruelty and deceit once and for all. Prepare to meet our uncle, Ares, for I am about to send you to Hades.”

Ares came right for her throat. Diana ducked, letting the blades pass overtop of her in the space her neck had occupied a second earlier, and she bent her back until she could slide her blade between two of Ares’s ribs. He rolled away. She turned to face him again. 

“A good shot, little sister.”

Diana swayed a bit, feeling the small cut on her upper thigh yet not affected enough to stop her from continuing this fight. Ares swayed more noticeably on his feet. A trail of blood flowed freely down his side and one leg.

“Let’s finish this, Ares.”

He came at her again and again, but each time was a bit sloppier than the blow before it. Just as Diana went to land the final blow, there was an explosion of light and Ares disappeared. Diana landed on the ground, rolling to stand back up, her sword at the ready. Ares was gone. She swore under her breath.

She heard another noise and spun around, finding Steve groaning on the floor. She realized that during the fight, something had fallen and hit Steve. She also realized that he was finally breathing normally again. Feeling his forehead and neck, his temperature was up a bit, although he was not sweating so profusely as he had been when she arrived. Kneeling beside him, she tried to comfort him.

“You’ll be alright, Steve. I’ve got you. I’ve got you and I am not letting you go again.”

Steve offered her the most tired smile she had ever seen.

“Dunno, Angel. Doesn’t feel like you’re going to get a choice.”

She was about to argue again when she realized his heartbeat was slowing down.

“No. No. Steve!”

He tried to smile but he just did not seem to have the energy left. She shook him, trying to rouse him.

“Fight it! Come on Steve, fight!”

He gave her hand a weak squeeze.

“Sorry Angel.”

She scooped him up bridal style. She was NOT losing him. She would not allow Ares this victory and she would not permit Steve to be taken from her just when she had finally gotten him back. She ran for her car and was almost there when she heard a noise. Looking up, the larger passenger-jet that could carry half the Justice League at one times. Another gift from Bruce.

They landed just as Diana heard Steve’s heart stop. Clark was the first off, followed by Arthur. Bruce was a few steps behind. Diana shouted orders.

“Get me the crash kit!”

Bruce dove back into the jet as Clark flew to her and Arthur took a leap to reach her side. Diana laid Steve out next to her car. Seconds later, Bruce was beside her with the crash kit. He helped her hook Steve up after she tore Steve’s clothes away from his heart and side to give Bruce access. Bruce operated the machine as Diana watched, breathless and listening for Steve’s heartbeat.

The first shock did nothing. Clark and Arthur moved closer to Diana. She knew what this was. In case it didn’t work, they would have to restrain her. Bruce hit Steve’s heart again. Nothing.

“No! No.”

Bruce reached in and grabbed a needle and before Diana could stop him, he plunged it into Steve’s chest and then hit the button again. Steve flew forward with a scream. Diana reached, catching his shoulders and speaking to him until his eyes met hers.

“Steve?”

He panted.

“Diana.”

She pulled him close, eyes closing as she listened to the beautiful sound of his heart beating. She felt it against her own chest and under her hand. Bruce spoke up.

“We’ll need to get him to the hospital. Don’t worry, I can make sure only a doctor of my choosing knows what is going on.”

Diana nodded over Steve’s shoulder, not quite ready to let go of him just yet. Clark reached to help her guide Steve to his feet while Arthur grabbed Diana’s sword and shield, and Bruce collected the kit. They got onto the jet and headed to a hospital.


	8. Aftermath of Ares

Diana sat in the little office of the doctor who was taking care of Steve. They needed to run a test she couldn’t be in the room for and Bruce told her that he needed to talk to her for a couple minutes before he could head back to Gotham. She was about to give up and head back to Steve’s side when Bruce walked in.

“What’s this about Bruce?”

He handed her some papers. She read them, quickly catching their meanings.

“Steve’s blood?”

Bruce nodded.

“I tested the needle I used on him, plus the blood collected here and some collected a week ago when you first said you were going to take him out of Gotham and out here. All of them say the same, although the blood now seems more potent with the changes.”

Diana shook her head, letting the papers fall onto her lap.

“He’s like me. And like Ares.”

Bruce nodded.

“Whatever Ares did to him, he’s as hard to kill as you and Ares, at least when it comes to time and things like that gas he tried to get rid of. He’s as vulnerable to things like bullets, as he always was. And since he came here, there hasn’t been any sign of it lessening. In fact, it hit a peak when they checked the needle from yesterday and today it hasn’t moved. Up or down.”

Diana was dumbfounded.

“So he’s not going to age, he’ll be like me?”

Bruce nodded, sitting back in the second office chair across from Diana.

“Has he been told?”

Shaking his head, Bruce explained, “I thought it would be better coming from you and I haven’t explained it to his doctor, so he doesn’t yet know either.”

Diana was grateful. Rising to her feet, she took a few steps before stopping shy of the door.

“Bruce?”

He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Who left you?”

He arched an eyebrow.

“There is someone you miss, who you would have done all I’ve done for Steve and Lois for Clark. Who?”

Bruce got a fond look, but with those same haunted eyes.

“Her name was Selina. She was a burglar, or lady thief as she preferred, and she disappeared one day without a word. She had been living at the mansion with Jason, Alfred, and I. Then one morning, Jason and I returned from our patrol and she was gone, along with every item she owned. Never saw her again or heard of her robbing anyone after that. Then, a few weeks later… I lost Jason.”

Diana was the only other member of the League who knew the whole story about Bruce’s adopted son and what had happened to him. Clark knew pieces, Arthur and the others knew little to nothing about it, Lois probably knew all there was to know from paperwork and photos.

“Perhaps she’ll come back. Just reappear as wordlessly as she disappeared.”

Bruce shook his head with that same quarter smile.

“That only happens in fairytales, Diana.”

She smiled over at him.

“A couple who couldn’t have children found a baby in a spaceship out back. A reporter watched the love of her life die fighting an alien, yet he sleeps beside her every night and brings her to every event he’s invited to. A soldier flew a plane into an ocean that didn’t appear on any map and met a race of women thought to be a myth, then he died in a firy crash days later, only to reappear in a museum 99 year after his death. I don’t think you can rule fairytale stories out just yet, Bruce.”

She reached for the door, then stopped once more.

“Thank you.”

He arched an eyebrow.

“You tracked my phone, Bruce. Then you saved Steve. Thank you.”

Bruce grinned up at her as he stood.

“To be fair, I tracked your car’s GPS.”

She smiled up at him.

“Just the same.”

He nodded.

“You deserve a fairytale, Diana. And I’m glad you got it. And if any man deserves you, Diana, it’s Steve Trevor. The man withstood the full might of Ares for you.”

Diana felt her heart leap in terror of seeing that and in joy that Steve was as strong as she remembered him being.

“Thank you.”

She kissed Bruce’s cheek before turning and walking out to find Steve. Hopefully his tests were all finished and she could take him home. She was tired of this hospital and of not being able to just lay beside Steve, holding him tight. Bruce smiled and walked off.

A few minutes later, Diana came into Steve’s room just as he was climbing back into the bed. She flashed a bright smile at him, earning one in return as she walked up to his bedside.

“The doctors keeps telling me I’m alright, yet I’m still here. Come on, I can take it. What did they find?”

Diana perched at the edge of his bedside.

“Ares’s manipulations did more than force you under his influence. They changed your DNA.”

Steve looked confused. She remembered that he wasn’t quite caught up enough to understand her fully.

“He changed your body. You aren’t a plain old mortal anymore, Steve. When he remade you or whatever it was he did, he made you closer to what he and I are. You won’t age, you can’t be killed by poison and gas, you’ll heal faster, you’re more durable. You aren’t quite on my level or Ares, you aren’t as strong or fast, nor do you heal as quickly as we do. The lack of aging is the only perfect match.”

Steve held up a hand to stop her, then moved it to hold her hand that laid between his knee and her own.

“What are you saying? That I’m like a male Amazon?”

She nodded. While he wasn’t on she or Ares’s level, far closer to a human, he would not age anymore than an Amazon on Themyscira.

“How do you feel about this?”, she asked.

Steve considered.

“Guess it means I finally got my wish.”

Diana looked at him curiously and Steve smiled up at her, those warm brown eyes making him fall in love with her all over again.

“I’m going to have all the time in the world to be with you.”

Diana moved forward to kiss him soundly.


	9. Meanwhile, in Themyscira

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hippolyta and her baby sister remember Antiope and worry about Diana.

Hippolyta stood in the same spot where she had reached and caught Diana’s little wrist so many years ago, to protect her from falling to her death. In actuality, it probably not have killed Diana, however Hippolyta was not ready for her little daughter to know just how powerful a girl she was. She looked out at the moon-lit ocean as she felt the rumble of thunder. It was not in the sky. Themyscira did not get storms. This was Ares’s work. He had fought Diana again and again, she had won. He was not dead but he had lost and would be a long while recovering.

Menolippe came up to stand beside her eldest sister and queen. While Antiope and Hippolyta had always been obvious in their sisterhood from their appearance to their personalities, Menolippe had always been the most distant and least similar in appearance of the three. She also was the quietest and most level-headed, most days.

“What worries my Queen?”, she asked with a sad smile. Everyone knew why Hippolyta watched the sea at night and first thing in the morning.

“She has fought with Ares.”

“She won.”

“Of course she did.”

“He is not dead.”

“No. He is not.”

“He will come again, and this time she will slay him for good.”

Hippolyta nodded. She was sure of the same.

“Sometimes I wish I had stopped her. That I had kept her from going with him.”

Menolippe nodded, looking out at the same sea and thinking of her wayward niece, her lost sister, the dead Amazons who preceded Antiope, and of all that Men had done to them. Yet, she was glad of what Diana had done. She had lived up to the oath of an Amazon.

“She is more Amazon than any of us, my Queen. She could not have stayed here forever or else she would have wilted like a flower left without water or sunlight.”

Hippolyta looked over at her sister in surprise. She had never known the younger woman to be so philosophical.

“I see old age is changing you, sister.”

Menolippe shrugged.

“Antiope was the most adept at it, however she was open to giving lessons.”

Hippolyta thought of the lessons she nearly throttled her sister for giving out. Teaching Diana the use of arms. Pushing Diana so very hard, even before being given express permission and outright ordered to train Diana ten times harder than any Amazon before her. She felt Menolippe’s arm wrapping around her shoulders.

“I miss them both as well, Hippolyta.”

She smiled at her younger sister and returned the gesture, foreign as it felt to show affection for anyone but Diana.

“Despite what I told her, I believe she will return. I have only to wait.”


	10. Dancing in the Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it!

Steve and Diana had just finished a small bit of business for the League and were now heading back to the tiny hotel in this small European town in the middle of nowhere. Diana linked their hands as they walked and this time, Steve did not pull his hand away, rather curling his fingers to hold hers a little tighter.

They walked into the small lobby just as the snow began to fall. Steve stopped for a moment to watch it just before he felt Diana tug at his hand. He looked over to see a sneaky smile on her lips and a light in her dark eyes. He smiled and let her tug him along.

They stopped on the other side of the building, where there was a small patio that had been abandoned with the turn of the weather. Diana tilted her head and listened, Steve imitating the action. Then he heard it, a person playing the violin nearby. Diana gave a small nod and Steve caught right on.

Stepping forward, Steve took Diana’s right hand and placed it on his shoulder, his left hand moving to her hip, his right hand moving to hold her left aloft. Then, they began to sway to the music. She smiled brightly at him, the snowflakes decorating her hair like stars in the night sky. Steve was entirely stolen away.

“The weather report said no snow till next Thursday.”

Steve shrugged.

“I’m glad the weather man was wrong. I find I have a new love of snow, particularly the fresh stuff as it falls from the sky.”

Diana leaned a little closer, letting her forehead rest of Steve’s shoulder. He let his left hand move to cradle the small of her back rather than staying at her hip. He would do this with her every night if she let him. They could wake, have scrambled eggs and read the newspapers, then go about their days before meeting again for dinner and then for him to dance the night away with her.

Diana smiled against his shoulder. Steve’s heart raced. He was really here. Diana was really in his arms and he was going to have all the time in the world to spend with her.

“Steve?”

He leaned closer.

“Yes, Angel?”

“Promise me I’m not dreaming.”

He smiled.

“If this is a dream, I never want to wake up.”

She nodded against his shoulder.

“Me either.”

He swayed a bit more with her until he could not feel his toes anymore, making his movements a bit sloppy. Even with whatever Ares had done to him, he was no better at tolerating things like winter’s bite or blistering sun, then he had been in 1918. Diana tugged his hand, stepping back, and pulling him along with her back into the hotel. As they walked back up to their room, Steve decided that he was the luckiest son of an Irishman to have ever existed.

In their room, Diana lit a few small candles and Steve added a couple logs to the small fireplace at the center of the one wall in their room. Within a few minutes, the room would be toasty, the flames giving the whole place a warm glow. Diana smiled somewhat shyly at him and Steve moved to stand in front of her, cupping her cheek. Words were not needed. She still loved him, he would never stop loving her, and they were together. They could handle anything so long as they had each other.


End file.
